Investigation and Preservation of the Palmyrian Historical and Cultural Heritage by Russian and European Researchers in the 17th–21st Centuries
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.307Abstract
The article accents to a comprehensive study of the contribution by the Russian and foreign scholars in the preservation and study of the Palmyrene archaeological sites. The paper aims to systematize and synthesize the achievements of various scientific and archaeological schools, field researchers, and philosophical thinkers collecting and analyzing data on the ancient city of Palmyra. One provides the main milestones for the research of the historic and cultural complex
through the structural-functional and descriptive-compared methods. It identifies four major successive stages, but at the same time completely not interchangeable between theological and purely scientific-analytic paradigms. In this regard, one provides brief information about the History of Palmyra and the study of the city. It compares the results of various European expeditions and four Russian expeditions (1882, 1900, 2016, and 2019), while offering opportunities for further cooperation in the region. In the context of the research, the paper attempts to give a precise and holistic justification of the motivation for Palmyra by representatives of various intellectual traditions. One covers the development of humanitarian scientific thinking over the past 300 years. It provides the primary intraregional context for several historical events that have impacted both the preservation and destruction of these monuments. The current restoration of
Palmyra goes far beyond Russian-Syrian humanitarian relations, as the development of digital technologies has enabled a large-scale work in the last five years. The experience gained will enable me to develop an appropriate strategy for restoring World Cultural Heritage sites.
Keywords:
Syria, Russia, Palmyra, historical and cultural heritage, archeology, science diplomacy
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Sosnowski M., Hastings P. Exploring Russia’s Humanitarian Intervention in Syria. Fikra Forum: An initiative of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2019, September 25. Available at: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/ar/policy-analysis/drast-tdkhwl-rwsya-alansany-fy-swrya (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Palmyra in Ancient Sources. Ministry of Culture of France. Available at: https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/palmyre/ar/ تدمر-في-المصادر-القديمة (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Palmyra is a commercial city that developed the world’s First Tax Tariff. Syriandays.com, 2008, February 16. Available at: http://www.syriandays.com/?page=show_det&id=7845 (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Al-Assad Sh. The Archeological Site of Palmyra Before and After the War in Syria. Archeology of the Eurasian Steppes, 2021, no. 3, pp. 298–306.
Minister of Culture Muhammad Al-Ahmad met with Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky. Ministry of Culture of the Syrian Arab Republic, 2019, November 26. Available at: http://moc.gov.sy/2019/11/ الأستاذ-محمد-الأحمد-وزير-الثقافة-يستق/ 26 / (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Munchaev R. M., Merpert N. Ya., Amirov Sh. N. Tell Khazna I: Religious and Administrative center in northeastern Syria. Vol. 1. Moscow, Paleograf Publ., 2004. 488 p. (In Russian)
Sedov A. V. Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies RAS in Yemen. Orientalistica, 2018, no. 1 (2), pp. 177–193. (In Russian)
The definition and meaning of the word Palmyra in the Almaany Aljami dictionary. Almaany Aljami. Available at: https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/ تدمر / (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
O’Connor М. BCILL 42: Linguistic Happening, the etymologies of Tadmor & Palmyra. A linguistic happening in memory of Ben Schwartz. Studies in Anatolian, Italic, and other Indo-European Languages. Ed. by Y. L. Arbeitman. Louvain-la-Neuve, 1988, pp. 411–462.
Leslau W. Comparative Dictionary of Ge’ez. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006. 756 p.
Levine B. A. Lexicographical and Grammatical Notes on the Palmyrene Aramaic Texts. Pursuit of Meaning: Collected Studies of B. A. Levine. Ed. by A. D. Gross. University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, 2011, pp. 845–858.
Abamelek-Lazarev S. S. Palmyra. Archeologicheskoe issledovanie. St. Petersburg, Izdatel’stvo Imperatorskoi Akademii nauk, 1884. 90 p. (In Russian)
Ng S. Writing about Discovery in the Early Modern East Indies (Elements in Travel Writing). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022. 75 p.
Zwierlein C. Palmyra 1691–1754: From the Anglicans’ interest in the Orient to the Freemasons’ fascination with temples to Early Modern Archaeology. Journal of Historical Research, 2022, no. 49, pp. 1–44.
Blunt A. Bedouin tribes of the Euphrates. New York, Harper & Bros. 1877. 480 p.
Astengo G. The rediscovery of Palmyra and its dissemination in Philosophical Transactions. Notes and Records of The Royal Society, 2016, March, pp. 1–22.
Yon J.-B. The Romanization of Palmyre and the Towns of the Euphrates. Annals. History, Social Sciences, 2004, no. 2 (59), pp. 313–336.
Lecture by M. B. Atayants “Architecture of Palmyra and the arch of the General Staff in St. Petersburg”. Golden Trezzini. Available at: https://goldtrezzini.timepad.ru/event/1705846/ (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Russian)
Bulletin of the Institute for the History of Material Culture Russian Academy of Sciences: (rescue archaeology). Ed. by N. F. Solovieva, S. L. Soloviev; IHMC RAS. St. Petersburg, Nevskaia Tipografiia Publ., 2022. 194 p. (In Russian)
Karmov T. M. The Phenomenon of Palmyra in the Public Consciousness of Russia: Past and Present. Russian Colonial Studies, 2020, no. 5, pp. 165–179. (In Russian)
Poggi I. History Turns Space into Place: A French Voyage to the Dead Sea Basin in 1864. Jerusalem Quarterly, 2020, no. 82, pp. 23–37.
The Journey of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch to Russia in the Half of the 17th Century, Described by His Son, Archdeacon Pavel of Aleppo: Vol. 2. Transl. by G. Murkos. Moscow, Universitetskaia tipografiia Publ., 1897. 202 p. (In Russian)
Piotrovsky M. B. Two Palmyra. Palmyra in the Hermitage. Ed. by A. B. Nikitin. St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Press, 2020, pp. 6–10. (In Russian)
Solovyova N. F., Solovyov S. L., Blokhin E. K., Kazakov E. E. Palmyra in time and space. The Past of Mankind in the papers by St. Petersburg archaeologists at the turn of the millennium. St. Petersburg. Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ., 2019, pp. 271–289. (In Russian)
Farmakovsky N. B. Painting in Palmyra. Zhurnal Russkago Archeologicheskago Institita, 1903, no. 3 (8), pp. 172–198. (In Russian)
Willert S. Between German-Ottoman war aims and museum interests. The German-Turkish Monument Protection Command in World War I. Renationalization or Sharing Heritage? Where does the preservation of monuments stand in the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. Ed. by S. Herold, A. Randla, I. Scheurmann. Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Library, 2018, pp. 42–50.
Stadnikow S. The Significance of the Ancient Orient for German Thought Sketches from the Period 1871–1945. Heidelberg University. Central and Other Institutions, Archaeology, 2007. Available at: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2007/40/ (accessed: 19.01.2023).
Robert Amy in Palmyra (1930–1945): Architecture and archeology. Ministère de la Culture de France. Available at: https://archeologie.culture.gouv.fr/palmyre/ar/architecture-et-archeologie?language_content_entity=ar (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Teixidor J. The pantheon of Palmyra. Leiden, Brill, 1979. 137 p.
The man who spent 40 years preserving Palmyra’s past. The Art Newspaper, 2016, October 21. Available at: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2016/10/21/the-man-who-spent-40-years-preserving-palmyraspast (accessed: 19.01.2023).
Syrian Arab Republic. UNESCO. Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/sy (accessed: 19.01.2023).
Khalid al-Asaad. Arab Encyclopedia. Available at: https://arab-ency.com.sy/artifacts/details/1242/6 (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Interview with Walid Khalid al-Asaad. Getty Research Institute. Available at: https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/palmyra/ar/interview.html (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Arabic)
Raja R., Seland E. The Paradox of Palmyra: An Ancient anomalopolis in the Desert. Journal of Urban Archaeology, 2022, no. 5, pp. 177–189.
Sa’id I. B. Syrian phosphates and their role in economic development. Journal of Damascus University, 2010, no. 26, pp. 755–780. (In Arabic)
Results of the First Stage of the Restoration of the Triumphal Arch of Palmyra. Rossiiskaia akademiia nauk. Institut istorii material’noi kul’tury. Available at: https://www.archeo.ru/struktura-1/otdel-ohran566noi-arheologii/novosti/itogi-pervogo-etapa-rabot-po-restavracii-triumfalnoi-arki-palmiry/itogi-pervogo-etapa-rabot-po-restavracii-triumfalnoi-arki-palmiry (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Russian)
Syrian-Russian Underwater Archeology. Kommersant, 2021, November 30. Available at: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5089533 (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Russian)
Yakovleva E. Piotrovsky: Joint Russian-Syrian expedition to Palmyra will take place in autumn. RG.ru, 2022, July 23. Available at: https://rg.ru/2022/07/23/piotrovskij-sovmestnaia-rossijsko-sirijskaia-ekspediciia-
v-palmire-projdet-oseniu.html (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Russian)
Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic on cultural and scientific cooperation. Elektronnyi fond pravovoi i normativno-tekhnicheskoi informatsii. Available at: https://docs.cntd.ru/document/1903034 (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Russian)
Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Syrian Arab Republic. Elektronnyi fond pravovoi i normativno-tekhnicheskoi informatsii. Available at: https://docs.cntd.ru/document/420354345 (accessed: 19.01.2023). (In Russian)
Shifman I. Sh. The Palmyrene Tax Tariff. Transl. by S. Khobnya, ed by J. H. Healey. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014. 308 p. (Journal of Semitic Studies, no. 33)
Downloads
Published
2023-12-22
How to Cite
Akhmatshina, E. K., Gerasimov, I. V., & Luchenkov, I. R. (2023). Investigation and Preservation of the Palmyrian Historical and Cultural Heritage by Russian and European Researchers in the 17th–21st Centuries. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 15(3), 549–567. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.307
Issue
Section
History and source studies
License
Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.
